AN: I do not own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I hope you enjoy the next chapter of Danny's Days! Reviews are wonderful ^.^
Chapter 8-Halloween Preparations
Danny yawned as his alarm clock screamed at him to wake up. He slammed his fist down on the snooze button and rolled out of bed. He was exhausted and bruised as usual, but the fact that Dani was around had made his job a little easier.
"Morning sleepy head!" Dani called as Danny trudged into the kitchen. He groaned and plopped into his usual chair. Dani placed a glass of orange juice in front of him and he guzzled it down without a second thought. Maddie bustled about the kitchen, cleaning the countertops. Dani bounced over to the stove, picked up a few pancakes from a pan and placed them on a dish before handing them to Danny.
"Pancakes?" Danny asked, staring at them in a sleepy stupor.
"Yeah. I wanted pancakes so Mom and I made them." Dani chirped.
"What time did you wake up?" Danny cried, realizing just how inhuman it was for Dani to be this lively at 7:30.
"Um…6 I think." Dani said, thinking about it briefly before returning to help Maddie clean.
"Hey Danny!" Sam waved from her porch as he walked up to her house. He returned the wave and bit back a blush as she quickly descended the stone steps of the porch.
"Hey Sam." Danny said, tucking his hands into his pockets.
"So do you know what Saturday is?" Sam asked, glowing as much as a Goth could glow. Ugh, I am really too excited to seem Goth right now. Sam thought, and then snapped her grinning lips into a much cooler, more Goth version of a smile.
"No, I don't know what Saturday is. It can't be your birthday, and it's October so it's not Christmas…" Danny pondered, hoping he wasn't forgetting something important.
"I celebrate Hanukkah, thank you very much…but no, it's not my birthday either." Sam said, feeling slightly devilish because of the little guessing game she was playing with Danny.
"It's Halloween stupid." Dani said, walking up and punching Danny in the arm. He glared at her and rubbed his arm.
"And why am I supposed to know that?" Danny asked her.
"Because it's a Goth's favorite holiday…and mine too!" Dani said, sticking her tongue out at him. Danny slapped himself on the forehead and shook his head.
"How could I have forgotten?" He mumbled, glancing at Sam.
"I don't know, but you and I need to go look for costumes!" Sam said.
"Costumes? Sam aren't we a little old to be dressing up for Halloween?" Danny asked. Sam gaped at her and Dani shook her head in disappointment.
"No we aren't! Besides, I'm having a Halloween party and you can't come unless you're in costume." Sam snapped, an evil gleam residing in her eyes. Danny groaned silently, and Dani romped ahead of the two older teens to meet up with Tucker, who was walking towards them.
"Fine, we'll go look for costumes…but I don't see why you need to go." Danny said to Sam.
"Why wouldn't I?" Sam asked.
"Because you dress like every day is Halloween." Danny smirked. Sam whacked him upside the head and he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head gingerly.
"How about this one?" Dani asked, holding up a cape.
"A cape? Too cheesy." Danny said, shaking his head. Sam slammed a top hat on his head and nodded approvingly.
"Definitely…you are definitely a top hat guy." Sam said, examining him carefully. Danny raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
"Okay, so we have a top hat…is that it?" Danny asked.
"No, it's part of your costume though. Hold on, I saw something that will look crazy awesome." Sam said before quickly walking down another aisle. Danny looked at Tucker pleadingly.
"How come they aren't dressing you up Tuck?" Danny asked him.
"I already got my costume Danny. I'm telling you, you should really get a PDA. It'll help you with your procrastination problem." Tucker said, waving his own PDA at Danny.
"Thanks but no thanks Tuck; techno-geek is your thing." Danny laughed. Sam returned holding several items of clothing.
"Go put these on." She ordered, shoving them into Danny's arms. He sighed and trudged into the dressing room before stripping off his own clothes and putting on the ones Sam had picked out. He examined himself in the mirror and was surprised that he didn't look totally ridiculous…for Halloween that is. The top hat had a red silk band around the base, and he was wearing black pants, a white dress shirt (which he kept un-tucked of course), a red silk tie, a black vest and a black suit jacket with tails.
"So…what exactly is it that I'm supposed to be?" Danny asked, stepping out of the dressing room.
"A vampire, duh." Dani sighed, lounging on the arm of the chair that Tucker was sitting in. Danny rolled his eyes.
"So is this one good?" He asked Sam, silently praying that the whole ordeal was over with. Sam nodded, but held up a small package.
"What is that?" Danny asked, almost afraid.
"You can't dress up as a vampire and not have the teeth Danny." Sam said, as if he was committing some horrible crime. Danny sighed.
"Fine, I'll wear the teeth. So where's your costume?" Danny asked, finally noticing that she hadn't tried anything on yet.
"I already bought mine. They've been holding it in the back for me since September." Sam said casually before pushing Danny towards the dressing room.
"So Sam's party should be a blast huh?" Tucker asked. Danny stared up at his ceiling, too lazy to even hold his phone. Tucker was on speaker phone.
"I guess so. Who's coming though? I mean, nobody from school was invited, were they?" Danny asked.
"I have no idea. Sam said it was supposed to be a huge surprise. Apparently her parents rented out some creepy house on the edge of Amity Park for it and everything so there must be a big crowd. She won't tell me anything other than where the party is going to be." Tucker said. Danny heard him typing rapidly.
"So Sam is having a huge Halloween party in a big, creepy house on the edge of town? It sounds to me like she wants to scare the crap out of our classmates." Danny said with a slight smirk.
"That's exactly what I was thinking. After the fiasco with Fright Knight, I think Sam wanted to have some more fun." Tucker chuckled. Danny rolled his eyes. As long as no uninvited guests show up, he thought, I don't care.
The next day Danny walked through downtown Amity Park, running some errands for his parents. Dani had gone to the school to take an entrance exam, Tucker was tutoring one of the freshmen and Sam was busy planning her party, so Danny was alone for once. He shifted the heavy bag from the hardware store his mom had requested he stop by from one hand to the other and glanced in the window of the Skulk and Lurk. He raised his eyebrows at some strange looking books whose covers labeled them as books on Halloween, vampires and witches. The window next to the Skulk and Lurk was full of glittering jewelry. He bit back a laugh, wondering how the Goths in the Skulk and Lurk would react to a store full of such pretty objects. He froze, however, as he noticed a small, dark chain. On the end of the chain was a little ghost. Its body was covered in glittering, diamond like stones and its eyes were made of two bright green ones. Sam would really like that he found himself thinking, but he sighed. There's no way I could afford it.
"Excuse me young man, but I couldn't help but notice that you were looking in my window. Are you looking for a gift for a special young lady?" An old woman asked, peeking out of the front door of the shop.
"I uh…I don't really think I can afford any of this." Danny said quickly, feeling his cheeks flush.
"Come inside." The old woman said, holding open the door. Danny sighed and walked into the store. He noticed that the inside of the store was full of much older objects, such as antique books, old jewelry boxes and a few trinkets here and there.
"Now which one were you looking at dear?" The old woman asked him.
"The…the uh, the ghost." He said quietly. The old woman lifted it slowly from its case and placed it on the counter occupying the center of the store.
"Now this one is a little old, but it's in excellent condition. Nobody has seemed to want to buy it. It's been sitting in that window for months now. I was hoping one of those…darker children that shop in the book store next door would buy it, but unfortunately nobody has. A particular girl looks at it every time she passes by, but she never stops in." The woman said quietly. Danny swallowed.
"Do you remember what that girl looks like?" Danny asked.
"Oh yes, there's no way I could forget a pretty face like that. Skin like alabaster, the prettiest purple eyes I've ever seen. Shiny black hair…oh she's an absolute beauty. I'm not a huge fan of the purple lipstick, but she's definitely pretty. Oh, I miss the days when I was a looker." The woman chuckled, glancing out the window briefly. Danny stared at her for a second.
"So…how much is the necklace?" Danny asked quietly.
"Judging by the look on your face, the girl I described is the girl you want to buy this for…I'll give it to you for forty dollars. I don't think anyone else would buy it anyway." The woman smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling up. Danny took out his wallet and bit back a yelp of victory as he counted his money. He placed forty dollars on the counter and the woman placed the necklace in a small, black, velvet box before handing it to him. Now how the heck am I going to give this to her? Danny thought as he walked out of the store.